New Home Insulation Q&A. It's all about the "R"
By: Alan Aptheker

Here’s a Q&A about the “R”. What’s “R?” "R" means resistance to heat flow. The higher the R-value, the greater the insulating power. Almost all insulation products have to tell you their R-value Q. What's the first thing I should look for when I buy insulation? A: If you’re looking at insulation with an R-value of 38 from Company A and insulation with an R-value of 38 from Company B, you’ll know the two products offer the same level of insulation. That’s true even if they’re different kinds of insulation — say, if one is blanket insulation, which comes in batts and rolls, and the other is loose-fill insulation, which comes as loose fibers or fiber pellets and requires special…